The Invisible Chains - Part 3: Bonds of Blood by Andrew Ashling Read Free Book Online

minute I feel warm, the next cold. My tongue feels as if it were made out of leather. My head hurts, my eyes hurt, my ears hurt. I swear, I'll never touch the stuff again.”
    “How is that possible? You only drink your wine watered down.”
    “Last night at the banquet, I don't know, I felt good and all fuzzy and I drank one cup of undiluted wine. I don't know what got into me.”
    “Only the one cup? You're certain?”
    “Of course, I'm certain. Ask Lorcko if you don't believe me.”
    “Oh, but I do believe you. That is, I believe you only drank one cup knowingly.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Anaxantis, one cup can't have this effect. Even if you're not used to drinking your wine pure.”
    “So?”
    “Isn't that obvious? Someone spiked your drinks.”
    “Who? Timishi? Impossible. I was looking at him all eveninshi? Ill drig.”
    He colored red.
    “No, no, his buddy, the rusty colored one. He deliberately crept between us. Well, I flattered myself that he wanted to get into my pants, abhorrent as the prospect may be, but he must have planned sitting next to you from the beginning.”
    “What? Just to spike my wine?”
    “Evidently. Whether Timishi knew is altogether another matter. I wonder why though.”
    Anaxantis hesitated, sighed and told him what happened. When he was done, Hemarchidas whistled.
    “So you bedded the Mukthar prince?” he laughed.
    “Not so... Not so loud. In heaven's name. It's embarrassing.”
    Hemarchidas looked indulgently at his friend.
    “ I must be over you or I wouldn't be able to take this so lightly. In a way I'm glad, because it means we are friends, truly friends.”
    “Oh, come on, it's hardly unheard of. We're young after all, and Timishi is quite attractive. If you like his type, that is. Did you have a good time, at least?”
    Anaxantis colored even more red.
    “Actually, yes, though I feel as if I shouldn't have.”
    “Ah,” Hemarchidas said. “I see. Well, no use crying over spilled milk, I suppose. Oh sorry, wrong image.
    Brace yourself, it will be all over Lorseth in no time.”
    Anaxantis groaned.
    “You think?” he asked in a small voice.
    “Of course. Somebody, somewhere will have seen the two of you and have connected the dots. And something tells me Mukthars aren't particularly known for their discretion.”
    “This keeps getting better and better. How was your evening?”
    “Trying to keep Rodomesh's hands off of me kept me fairly occupied. At last — you were gone by then — he threw up, almost on my lap, drunk as a skunk. I couldn't leave him there, thanks to your general order to be kind and civil to them, so I wanted to carry him to their lodgings. When I came there the doors were closed and only on the top floor a light was burning. That would have been—”
    “Yes, yes, carry on.”
    “Well, I dragged him all the way to my barrack and laid him in one of the spare rooms. He's still there, as far as I know.”
    He chuckled.
    “I'm afraid I undressed him completely before tucking him in,” he continued, “and I threw his stinking clothes in a basket outside. By the way, did you know they don't wear underpants, but... but of course you do.”
    Anaxantis gave him a dark look and remained silent for a while.
    “If he is still there when you return, maybe you could try to find something out,” he broke the silence. “Just before Rodomesh pierced his tongue, Damydas seems to have had some kind of an epiphany. If I remember correctly he said something about a so called ‘shirma.’ I'd like to know who or what that is. Then he said Timishi had no right to say whatever it was he was saying. A moment later he understood something. ‘Of course, the vrangmàhai,’ he said. I know that màhai means the people, the nation. But the rest... Something keeps tugging at my brain. As if ther Somets isaie is something I should remember. I just can't put my finger on it. Most annoying.”
    Hemarchidas thought for a moment.
    “I'll do my best, that is, if